And WW, how can you defend the family in one post and then fail condemn pornography in the next? Do you not see the connection between the rise of one and the fall of the other?

What's wrong with porn? Porn is an assault on human dignity. Another more articulate writer, Matt Fradd, puts it this way:"Porn is wrong because it removes sexual intimacy from its natural context, turning it into a commodity to be bought and sold. It has been rightly said that the problem with porn is not that it shows too much but that it shows too little – too little of the human person. Porn reduces the mystery and beauty of a man or woman to a collection of body parts to be used rather than recognizing them as persons to be loved. It reduces the great mystery and sanctity of human sexuality to a trivial activity that need not be of any real importance."

It is interesting to read everyone's view point and why they are right and others are wrong on the "decay of peoples". But that's another thing that makes us great. We can publicly offer our views on what we feel matters.

"Go as far as you can see; when you get there, you'll be able to see farther."

No, you let someone else do that for you. How honorable and manly! jph, perhaps you would care to elaborate? Do you not understand the use of emoticons (smilies) to denote sarcasm??? Or are we supposed to use those lame ass expressions of "lol", and "roflmao" so as not to offend your sensibilities??????? Apparently, you have discerned that your true calling is that of moral and spiritual consciousness for those of us who aren't of your particular point of view.Some, besides myself might even find your comments and self righteousness to be just a bit overbearing and pompous. (Note, no emoticon depicting sarcasm for that comment).

You thought it would be nice to share how you are into watching naked women having sex (very classy), but you promised that you've never been tempted to rape anyone. My point is that your love of porn is pretty much paying someone else to do the raping for you so you can sit back an watch in your basement. Follow me now?

Not that I'm trying to be for or against porn, but I gotta call you on one point here JPH... How do you figure that pornography equals raping? Last I checked the women who star in porn are usually pretty well paid, and they are definitely not being forced to do things they don't want to do. Unless you're talking about some kind of sick, underground, homemade snuff type porn. That stuff is illegal.

I'm not trying to say that porn is good or that it isn't potentially harmful, but I can't agree with the idea that women in porn are being raped.

I saw a news piece once where there was a company who was into making pornographic films that were actually geared towards trying to show the intimacy that exists between a man and woman who love each other.

The problem is that there are some types of porn out there that depict situations like rape or submissiveness or whatever, and a person who isn't firmly grounded in the concepts of fiction compared to reality may not be able to discern the fact that the scenarios on the video aren't real. That's where the moral decay begins.

"When a hunter is in a tree stand with high moral values and with the proper hunting ethics and richer for the experience, that hunter is 20 feet closer to God." ~Fred Bear

Deebz wrote:Not that I'm trying to be for or against porn, but I gotta call you on one point here JPH... How do you figure that pornography equals raping? Last I checked the women who star in porn are usually pretty well paid, and they are definitely not being forced to do things they don't want to do. Unless you're talking about some kind of sick, underground, homemade snuff type porn. That stuff is illegal.

I'm not trying to say that porn is good or that it isn't potentially harmful, but I can't agree with the idea that women in porn are being raped.

I saw a news piece once where there was a company who was into making pornographic films that were actually geared towards trying to show the intimacy that exists between a man and woman who love each other.

The problem is that there are some types of porn out there that depict situations like rape or submissiveness or whatever, and a person who isn't firmly grounded in the concepts of fiction compared to reality may not be able to discern the fact that the scenarios on the video aren't real. That's where the moral decay begins.

You can try to justify it all you want, no amount of money is a fair exchange for human dignity. Besides, I don't know where you get off thinking that the women in pornography are well compensated even in financial terms. You may comfort yourself by pointing to a few imfamous "porn stars" but you forget the thousands (if not millions) of people shown in seedy internet sites, magazines and peep shows. The fact is no human being sells their body of a truly free will. The subjects in pornography find themselves in the situation due to chemical addiction, poverty, violence or other more sinister forms of desperation. To pay for the sexual exploitation of anyone is cowardly, shameful and closely related to rape in my opinion.

To tie this back into the initial conversation, a society that looks the other way as pornography becomes main stream should not be surprised when the value of life becomes cheap. After all, if our most intimate moments are not sacred, then our entire lives must not be worth much either. It is all part of the culture of death in my opinion.

I totally understand and accept your opinion here JPH... I just don't think I can flat out condemn something that people do indeed make a choice to do (for whatever reasons) without feeling like I'm judging people. It's not my place to judge people for their decisions.

"When a hunter is in a tree stand with high moral values and with the proper hunting ethics and richer for the experience, that hunter is 20 feet closer to God." ~Fred Bear

Deebz wrote:I totally understand and accept your opinion here JPH... I just don't think I can flat out condemn something that people do indeed make a choice to do (for whatever reasons) without feeling like I'm judging people. It's not my place to judge people for their decisions.

You miss the point. This is not about judging the people who resort to pornography. Don't think for a moment that I am innocent regarding this topic. I am a modern American man. I've been exposed to it my whole life and I've often failed to resist the temptation.

This is about calling it out for what it really is! This is about saying that we can be better than this! We have a problem. We objectify one another. We exploit one another. We steal from one another. We oppress one another. Then we are shocked when we kill one another????

I'm not the least bit afraid of being called judgmental. I'm afraid of living a life that does not stand for the protection of my fellow human beings.